Observing U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's efforts to restart negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis one can't help but be struck by a sense of déjà vu. Kerry, who visits Israel and the Palestinian territories this week, has launched an initiative to improve the economic conditions of Palestinians living under occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. This proposal might be considered innovative if a plan to "improve the Palestinian quality of life" -- which in practice means improving the conditions of Israel's Palestinian subjects while ignoring their subjugation -- had not been mooted in 1983 by Secretary of State George Shultz. In the intervening decades, Palestinian "quality of life" has worsened considerably.

Similarly, there are reports of Kerry touting an Arab peace plan that would reaffirm the 1967 boundaries as the basis for a settlement. The same plan was originally put forward by Saudi Arabia's then-Crown Prince Abdullah at the 2002 Arab summit meeting and reiterated in 2007, both times to general Israeli and U.S. indifference. The core principles in the original initiative were far from novel: they simply recapitulated the terms of U.N. Security Council resolution 242 of 1967. Like its nearly-identical predecessors, the plan was ignored by the Israeli government, even though it includes explicit reference to the possibility of territorial "swaps" Israel has long insisted on.

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"We have the chance to show that America values the dignity of the street vendor in Tunisia more than the raw power of the dictator ... America must use all our influence to encourage reform in the region ... we need to speak honestly about the principles that we believe in, with friend and foe alike."

Which prominent American spoke these words? It was neither Senator John McCain, enthusiast of democracy promotion, nor former President George W. Bush, architect of the Freedom Agenda. It was our realist, pragmatic President Barack Obama, in a major speech on May 19, 2011, during the heady early months of the Arab Spring. The president argued that concentrating mainly on longstanding U.S. security interests was no longer enough. Obama declared that encouraging transitions to democracy was now a "top U.S. priority that must be translated into concrete actions and supported by all of the diplomatic, economic, and strategic tools at our disposal." He announced a three-pronged strategy for the transitioning countries: standing up firmly for democratic values, helping troubled economies, and expanding engagement beyond Arab regimes to newly-emboldened citizens. 

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A series of car bombings have hit the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Basra on Monday, killing an estimated 48 people. No group has taken responsibility for the attacks which targeted several Shiite districts of the Iraqi capital as well as the oil-rich predominantly Shiite city of Basra, in southeastern Iraq. Bombs exploded at a restaurant and bus stop in Basra, and were followed by about nine car bombs in Baghdad. In a separate incident, 10 police officers were reported killed Sunday at a police station in Anbar Province and additionally, the bodies of five police officers who had been kidnapped were found. About 150 people have been killed across Iraq in the past week in the worst sectarian tensions seen since the withdrawal of U.S. troops in December 2011.

Syria

Fierce fighting continued into Monday between Syrian troops, backed by Hezbollah fighters, and opposition forces over the strategic town of Qusayr. Qusayr, about 18 miles southwest of Homs, links Damascus to government strongholds on the Mediterranean coast, and is also an important supply route for opposition forces and link to fighters from Lebanon, just 6 miles away. Clashes have been ongoing for weeks around Qusayr and government forces launched a major offensive Sunday, making significant advances. Syrian state news agency reported that the government had control of most of the town on Monday, but opposition activists denied reports the town had been overtaken. The fighting has brought the militant Lebanese group Hezbollah to the forefront, and underscores concerns of a spreading regional conflict. Between 30 and 40 Hezbollah fighters were reportedly killed in Qusayr on Sunday. The battle for Qusayr has been sited by government loyalists and opposition activists as a turning point, that according to one activist could, "decide the fate of the regime and the revolution."

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• The Egyptian army sent reinforcements into the Sinai Peninsula Monday after President Mohamed Morsi ruled out negotiations with the kidnappers of seven security personnel.
• Hundreds of Islamist Ansar al-Sharia supporters, protesting a ban on the groups' annual congress, clashed with police in Tunis who arrested 200 demonstrators and killed one person in the violence.
• Iran executed two men on Sunday who were found guilty of spying for U.S. and Israeli intelligence services.
• Raha Moharrak has become the first Saudi woman to summit Mount Everest, climbing with the group "Arabs with Altitude" and fund raising for Reach Out Asia's education projects in Nepal.
• Thousands of workers from Dubai's largest construction company went on strike Sunday for a second day, joining workers in Abu Dhabi, in a rare protest for increased wages. 
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"You are not going to war against the youth, but against the religion of Allah." The statement, which appeared Sunday night on the Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia (AST) Facebook page, was attributed to Abu Iyadh al-Tunisi, AST's emir and the founder of the al Qaeda-linked Tunisian Islamic Combatant Group (TICG). Coming after Tunisian authorities suppressed AST preaching events in multiple cities, the text is part of an escalating war of words and deeds between AST, Tunisian security forces, and the Islamist Ennahda-led government over the past several months, compounded by the September 14, 2012 assault on the U.S. Embassy in Tunis. Al-Tunisi's statement also threatened, in subtle but unmistakable tones, a jihad against Tunisian authorities.

The risk of open conflict may have become even more likely Wednesday after Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi announced that AST's annual conference in the city of Kairouan, scheduled for Sunday, would not be allowed to take place, though an AST spokesman vowed Thursday that the event would go forward. But the immediate spark came when Tunisian security forces began striking homemade landmines in the rugged region around Jebel Chaambi near the country's western border with Algeria.

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The United Nations General Assembly is expected to approve an Arab-backed draft resolution on Syria in a vote on Wednesday. The draft resolution condemns the Syrian government and accepts the Syrian National Coalition as a party to a potential political transition. The draft resolution is opposed by Russia, a strong ally of the Syrian regime, and is not expected to win as many votes as an August 2012 resolution, which passed with 133 countries in favor. A senior western diplomat said that the Islamist factor has added complications and it is not as clear to countries now that the opposition is the winning side. According to another senior diplomat, this draft resolution is stronger than the earlier one, and Russia has complained that it is unbalanced. The draft resolution condemns violence from all sides, and demands that the Syrian government allow for a U.N. inquiry into chemical weapons allegations. Unlike U.N. Security Council resolutions, General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding and cannot be enforced. However, the three Western-backed Security Council resolutions aimed at pressuring the Assad regime have been vetoed by Russia and China. The United States and Russia have been planning for an international conference on Syria they hope to hold in June. Speaking from Sweden on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said "progress is being made" on bringing together representatives from the Syrian government and opposition. According to Kerry, Assad's regime has given Russia a list of officials that would attend the potential talks. Meanwhile, Syria's Internet is reportedly down for the second time in two weeks. According to Syrian residents and the U.S.-based Internet monitoring company Renesys Corp., Syria went offline at 10:00 a.m. local time Wednesday. Syria's state news agency, SANA, said there were technical problems and maintenance teams were working on the issue.

Headlines

• Iraqi gunmen killed 12 people in an attack on at least nine liquor stores in the Zayona district of eastern Baghdad on Tuesday.
• Rival Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, have agreed to form a national unity government and hold legislative and presidential elections within three months.
• The International Criminal Court is opening a preliminary examination into Israel's raid in 2010 of a humanitarian aid flotilla bound for the Gaza strip, in which nine Turks were killed.
• Libyan officials have said that an explosion near a hospital on Monday may have been "an accidental" blast of a car carrying explosives.
• Turkey's ruling Islamist party has proposed a parliamentary bill curbing the consumption and advertisement of alcohol. 
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U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron met in Washington on Monday, reaffirming their commitment to the Syrian opposition. Cameron said his government has not yet made a decision to arm opposition fighters, but committed to double its non-lethal aid over the coming year as well as continue providing humanitarian relief for refugees. Obama spoke about U.S. and Russian efforts to bring together the Syrian government and opposition for negotiations, but injected a word of caution saying, "There are going to be enormous challenges." The Syrian regime and opposition have requested more details about the proposed conference before committing to attend. Obama also noted that he had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin several times and stated that Russia has an interest in encouraging a stable and democratic Syria after Assad leaves power. Putin is hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks on the Syrian conflict on Tuesday. Israel expressed concerns last week about Russia's arms deliveries of advanced S-300 missile batteries to the Syrian government. Meanwhile, an unauthenticated video has been released that appears to show a Syrian rebel eating the heart of a dead government soldier, drawing widespread condemnation. Human Rights Watch identified the man as Abu Sakkar, leader of the Independent Omar al-Farouq Brigade. The U.S. based human rights group said all people responsible for war crimes in the Syrian conflict will be held accountable. A spokeswoman for the opposition Syrian National Coalition said, "we completely condemn this act, which is an affront to human values, Islamic ethics and the ideals of the coalition and the Free Syrian Army."

Headlines

• On Monday, a car bombing close to a hospital in the Libyan city of Benghazi killed several civilians after four police stations were bombed last week which caused damage but no casualties.
• Saudi Arabia's health ministry has confirmed four new cases of the SARS-like coronavirus, with a total of 24 cases since the disease was identified in 2012.
• Israel approved a two-year austerity budget Monday despite large protests; meanwhile Prime Minster Netanyahu has come under scrutiny for his household spending.
• A Turkish fighter jet crashed Monday killing the pilot in the southern Osmaniye province near the border with Syria, but the cause of the crash is unclear.
• President Obama said the U.S. administration called the attack on Benghazi an act of terrorism from the beginning and called the dispute a Republican "sideshow." 
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Syria has denied responsibility for two car bombings on Saturday in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli that killed an estimated 46 people and injured 100 others. Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said his country "did not commit and would never commit such an act because our values would not allow that." Turkish police have arrested nine Turkish citizens suspected of having a connection with the attacks. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the people responsible for the bombings were from an "old Marxist terrorist organization" with ties to the Syrian regime. He said the attacks were a breach of Turkey's "red line" and called on the "international community to display a common stance against the regime, immediately and without delay." Concerns over the spread of the Syrian conflict continue to increase, and anger has heightened in the predominantly Sunni town that is housing tens of thousands of Syrian refugees. Meanwhile, the rebel Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade reportedly released four Filipino U.N. peacekeepers who had been posted in the Golan Heights and were abducted last Tuesday. The brigade said the soldiers were held "for their own safety." The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has released a new estimate for the death toll in the Syrian conflict, saying that 82,257 have been killed since fighting began in March 2011. In February, U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay said the death toll was approaching 70,000.

Headlines  

• A Russian-made Yemeni fighter jet crashed into a residential district of the capital, Sanaa, on Monday, killing the pilot and injuring at least 18 people in the third such incident in the past year.
• Iran's Guardian Council has accused Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of violating the election law by accompanying Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie as he registered for the upcoming presidential election.
• Egyptian security forces arrested three suspected al Qaeda linked militants for planning an attack on a Western embassy in Cairo, likely the U.S. embassy.
• Egypt's El-Watan newspaper said one of its reporters broke through security lines to interview former President Hosni Mubarak, for the first interview since his ouster in February 2011.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week amid concerns that Russia may sell an advanced missile defense system to Syria. 
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Filipino Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said he recommended to President Benigno Aquino that he withdraw its peacekeeping forces from the Golan Heights after four soldiers were abducted Tuesday. The Syrian rebel Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade said it is holding the soldiers "for their own safety" and has posted two videos of the men to show that they have not been harmed. Two months ago, 20 Filipino peacekeepers were seized from the same area by Syrian rebels and were held for a few days before being released. The peacekeepers were used to demand the pullback of Syrian regime forces. A total 342 Filipino soldiers are posted in the Golan Heights. The group comprises about one third of the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) which has been monitoring the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria since 1974. Del Rosario said the soldiers were being held as human shields against attack by Syrian government forces and their exposure was "beyond tolerable limits."

Syria

British Prime Minister David Cameron is planning to use meetings in the coming days with Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama to discuss the crisis in Syria and suggest that an international conference be held in Britain. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with the Russian president and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov this week and announced a joint plan for a conference. However, while meeting with Jordanian officials in Rome on Thursday, Kerry said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could not be part of a "transitional government" in post-war Syria, which could pose a challenge to the agreement made with the Russians. Earlier, Kerry had said the situation was a matter for the Syrian people to decide. Meanwhile, in a televised speech, Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah, increased tensions with Israel saying the Syrian government would respond to recent Israeli airstrikes near Damascus by supplying Hezbollah fighters with weapons. Nasrallah was not clear about the type of arms, but said they were "unique weapons that it had never had before" and that it would "change the balance" of power with Israel. On Thursday, Syrian officials said they would retaliate for the Israeli strikes last weekend. Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad told Agence France-Presse they would "not allow this to be repeated" and "would respond immediately to any Israeli attack."

Headlines  

• New York prosecutors have accused eight men of leading one of the largest cyber bank thefts ever spanning 27 countries and stealing $45 million from two Middle East banks.
• Radical Islamist cleric Abu Qatada said he would voluntarily return to Jordan if the parliament ratifies a treaty with Britain, which has been "determined" to deport the international terror suspect.
• A Finnish couple and an Australian student abducted in December 2012 in Yemen, reportedly by al Qaeda militants, were released near the Omani border overnight Wednesday.
• Iran has announced a new attack drone, the Epic, capable of surveillance and offensive missions according to Iranian media.
• Three men were arrested at a demonstration of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews at Jerusalem's Western Wall protesting a group of women praying in garments traditionally worn by men. 
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Kurdish rebel fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have begun their withdrawal from southeastern Turkey as stipulated by a peace deal negotiated between Turkey and PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in March. Over 40,000 people have died in the conflict, which has spanned nearly three decades. There are an estimated 2,000 PKK fighters in Turkey, and they will withdraw in phases over the course of about four months. The PKK expressed concern over an apparent increase of Turkish troop movements and reconnaissance drones on Tuesday. During a negotiated withdrawal in 1999, the Turkish military ambushed Kurdish fighters, killing an estimated 500 people. Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas said, "We have no doubt about the state but fear provocation from dark forces." There was, however, no sign of military activity on Wednesday. The first fighters are expected to arrive in northern Iraq's Qandil mountains in a week. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticized the timeline of the withdrawal, stressing that the fighters should disarm before leaving. But, this was rejected by the PKK, which feared the departing forces would come under assault.

Syria

After meetings on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei V. Lavrov announced a plan to arrange an international conference aimed at ending the over two year conflict in Syria which has killed over 70,000 people. Kerry said their intention is to convince representatives from the Syrian government and the opposition to attend. He continued that the United States and Russia want to hold the peace conference "as soon as practical, possibly, hopefully as soon as the end of the month." The move seemed to be an optimistic step as the United States and Russia have not been able to agree to unified efforts on Syria. Lavrov said the United States and Russia were committed to a deal that would assure the "sovereignty and territorial integrity" of Syria. Kerry and Lavrov did not offer details on how they would get the warring parties to the negotiating table, nor did they elaborate on why they expect these efforts would be any more successful than those taken in the past. Meanwhile, four Filipino U.N. peacekeepers were seized Tuesday "by an unidentified armed group" while they were on patrol along the ceasefire line between Syria and Israel in the Golan Heights. The Islamist opposition group Martyrs of Yarmouk reportedly published a photo of the four men, and said they were being held for their own safety. The Martyrs of Yarmouk abducted 21 Filipino peacekeepers in the Golan in March, and released them after holding them for three days.

Headlines

• British physicist Professor Stephen Hawking has joined the academic boycott of Israel, pulling out of President Shimon Peres's annual conference over Israel's treatment of Palestinians.
• Suspected al Qaeda militants ambushed and killed three Yemeni air force pilots Wednesday when they were in a car traveling to the Al Anad air base, which is jointly used with the United States.
• Israeli police detained Jerusalem's top Muslim cleric Muhammad Hussein over reported disturbances ahead of Jerusalem Day, when Israelis mark the city's "reunification" during the 1967 Six-Day War.
• U.S. Republican lawmakers are continuing their inquiry into the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi, focusing on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. 
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin for talks on the crisis in Syria. Russia, a longtime ally of the Syrian regime, and the United States have been at odds since the beginning of the uprising in Syria in March 2011, and are divided over the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Russia and China have, on three occasions, blocked U.S.-led efforts at the United Nations to pressure Assad to resign. Kerry's visit has come days after Israeli airstrikes on weapons facilities in Syria targeted missiles it says were intended to be transferred to Hezbollah. Russia condemned the attacks and Putin said he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to U.S. officials, Kerry is hoping to persuade Putin to take a tougher stance on Syria through two new angles: U.S. threats to arm the Syrian opposition and evidence of government use of chemical weapons. Russia's foreign ministry has criticized the West for politicizing the issue of chemical weapons in Syria. Carla Del Ponte, of the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, has suggested chemical weapons were used by opposition fighters rather than the Assad regime. The United States however has dismissed the statement saying it believes that Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles remain under government control.

Headlines

• Egypt's Prime Minister Hisham Qandil announced nine new ministers in a cabinet reshuffle, but fell short of opposition calls for a complete overhaul and Qandil's replacement.
• Libya's Defense Minister Mohammed Mahmoud al-Bargati has resigned over the siege of government ministries, which have continued despite parliament's adoption of a law banning Qaddafi-era officials.
• Iran has started registering candidates for the presidential election set for June 14, with more conservatives entering than reformists.
• Kurdish lawmakers met with Iraqi officials in order to "break the ice" in efforts toward negotiations over oil exports.
• Israeli media and advocacy group Peace Now has reported a freeze on construction tenders after Prime Minister Netanyahu promised U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry he would "rein in" settlement construction in efforts to renew peace talks. 
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In the wake of reports that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad allegedly used sarin, a chemical weapon, it appears that U.S. President Barack Obama is on the brink of providing the Syrian opposition with lethal weapons. But it certainly does not seem that the Obama administration pursued the full range of nonlethal options available, particularly those involving the international community. Here's an idea: To affect meaningful and decisive change in Syria, which is suffering from a humanitarian catastrophe, the international community should use all available diplomatic and economic leverage to choke off the arms, resources, and money flowing to the regime.

A new Human Rights First report reveals that at least a dozen countries -- including Russia, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Angola, Georgia, Lebanon, Cyprus, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates -- are continuing to provide the Assad regime with weapons, fuel, military technology, and access to financial markets. The paper provides both a unique overview of Assad's third-party supporters and a roadmap the U.S. government can follow to crack down on them. The U.S. government should use diplomacy to try to influence the countries providing these resources as well as the countries allowing these resources to pass through their jurisdiction. In addition, the U.S. Treasury should use existing authority under the Syria sanctions regime to designate those entities continuing to support the Assad regime and block them from the U.S. marketplace.

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Government forces and pro-regime militias attacked and raided the predominantly Sunni coastal village of Baida in northwestern Syria on Thursday, killing at least 50 people. According to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the death toll will likely exceed 100, including women and children. It added that many people appear to have been killed in summary execution style shootings or stabbings, and some bodies were found burned. Dozens of villagers remain missing. The attack on the village, near the city of Banias, was spurred by an opposition assault on a bus carrying pro-Assad militiamen, shabiha, killing at least six of them and injuring 20. Regime fighters and shabiha retaliated by surrounding Baida and the nearby town of Maqreb, and attacking them with mortar fire, and then storming Baida. The Syrian military seems to have made significant gains in recent weeks, retaking territory in Homs and several Damascus suburbs. Meanwhile, in a news conference on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel became the first top U.S. official to acknowledge that the Obama administration is considering arming the Syrian opposition. He said, "arming the rebels -- that's and option," but continued that the president is looking at all options. U.S., British, French, Russian, and Chinese officials met with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Thursday to discuss diplomatic options for ending the conflict in Syria. U.N. and Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi has expressed an intention to resign over the international deadlock on Syria. According to some diplomats he could step down by the end of May.

Headlines  

• The United States has redesigned its largest "bunker buster" bomb with the capacity to destroy Iran's underground Fordow nuclear site, hoping to assure Israel it has the ability to prevent Iranian nuclear weapons development.
• Google has adopted "Palestine" as the tagline for its Palestinian edition saying, "we are following the lead of the United Nations and other international organizations."
• Egypt's birthrate has risen to a 20-year high as Mubarak-era policies lapse.
• Lebanon ratified the first civil marriage which sets an important precedent, despite criticism. 
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King Abdullah II spent most of last week in Washington, D.C., where he tried to shore up U.S. support for Jordan by meeting with business leaders (pitching Jordan for foreign investment), civil society organizations (including American Arab, Muslim, and Jewish organizations), congressional leaders, the vice president, and finally, with President Barack Obama at the White House. Yet upon his return to Jordan, the king was met with a new statement of domestic opposition, signed by almost a thousand opposition figures, railing against a multitude of regime policies, both foreign and domestic. Having just returned from a seemingly successful visit to the United States, this is probably not the welcome that the king was hoping for.

Jordanian officials used to joke that Jordanian foreign policy could best be explained by noting that Jordan existed "between Iraq and a hard place." That old English-language pun may not have been riotously funny in the past, but in the present it no longer even comes close to explaining the extent of external pressures on the kingdom. The economy remains disastrous. The reform process remains incomplete and contested. And the Syrian civil war edges ever closer to Jordan, threatening to drag the kingdom into a conflict that it is desperately trying to avoid.

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